steve also was the co-leader with bill. , with an assessment on a defense review. izturis at a time when we knew there were fiscal issues, but the deficit debate was far further from the november debate. what we would like to do this morning is began by posing some questions to each of the analysts. we have television coverage today. when we go to the crowd, please identify yourself. be specific about who you are addressing your question to. i want to begin -- i think a number of reasons, the broad perspective on this recent deal is important to understand, before we get into the specifics of what its implications might be or should be or should not be regarding the national security budget. if you could begin, alex, on the deal. a short explanation. even though there has been a lot overscussion, what happenes the next few months with the current deal? >> first, how did we get here? we got into this dreadful, awful, outrageous process with the debt ceiling, an artificial crisis, and no one concerned -- no one with u.s. government can be proud of their performance a